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Money Managing Machines: Should a Bot Invest for You?

Written by: MainStreet04/22/13 - 4:32 PM EDT

By Hal M. Bundrick

NEW YORK (MainStreet) --While the pundits analyze the stochastics, macroeconomic models, market inefficiencies and interest rate conundrums, most people realize that the stock market is really in the metal belly of The Machine. Computer trading dominates Wall Street. And now a leading edge of automated money management services is targeting the do-it-for-me investor -- especially younger, tech-savvy consumers wary of Wall Street.

We are talking totally turn-key money management services. Not account aggregators that help you "see your total financial picture." And we're not talking about a portfolio recommendation service that analyzes your current holdings and suggests improvements but still requires you to handle the actual trades and implement the strategy. This is a set-it and forget-it deal: sign-up, fill out the obligatory risk-tolerance survey, transfer in some cash and you're done. They do all the trades, re-balancing, tax-loss harvesting, and the rest. It's kind of like those old-fashioned separately managed accounts (SMAs) that your father had back when the investment world was dominated by traditional brokerage houses. Remember those? Merrill Lynch? Smith Barney? E. F. Hutton? How quaint.

So, don't expect any chummy lunches at The Club with your stockbroker. Andy Rachleff, President and CEO of Wealthfront says that's not what his target market is looking for anyway.

"We originally designed Wealthfront for 25- to 40-year-olds who work in the tech community," Rachleff says. "It's all done online by implementing Modern Portfolio Theory with low cost ETFs. The only thing you don't get is someone to hold your hand."

Wealthfront's lineage dates back to late 2008 when it was hatched as fantasy stock market game called kaChing.

How things have changed. Now, Burton Malkiel, the legendary economist, Princeton University professor emeritus of economics and author of A Random Walk Down Wall Street, is the guiding hand behind its investment process.

Another player in the field is Betterment. Betterment claims to be more robo than the rest. The entire process is automated.

"Our mission is to be Apple meets Vanguard - an intuitive interface combined with smart, efficient investing," says Jonathan Stein, Founder and CEO. "We save you time and money by using our technology to handle everything, from the advice about what your goals should be, to how much you should save, to choosing your investments, to keeping you on track to reach your goals."